1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to hand fans, and more specifically to providing methods to make new types of hand fans, and enhancements to, hand fans.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hand fans have been known throughout the ages around the world. Several types of fans have been used over the years, but the most common hand fans still widely used today are the standard folding hand fan, the non-folding hand fan, and the substantially circular hand fan. These fans are typically made of fabric or paper webbing (i.e., leaves), attached to supports (i.e., ribs) on projecting sticks. The standard folding hand fan typically has two outer guards to partially protect the folded fan, leaves, and sticks.
These fans can be quite useful in cooling people in overheated conditions, such as in hot rooms and outdoors. With the advent of global warming, the use of hand fans will likely increase. Recently there has been an incremental increase in the use of standard hand fans in fashion shows and other high-level social situations. The utilitarian benefits of hand fans are returning as the paramount reason for their widespread use, as opposed to their social status statement of previous centuries.
Surprisingly, these hand fans have not changed much over the course of recent centuries. In particular, folding hand fans have continued to be made in virtually the same materials and designs over the last 200 years. However, such folding hand fans could be greatly enhanced in terms of ease of use and in available features. What is needed are folding hand fans that are more readily opened and more safely stored using new materials for fashion of the 20th and 21st centuries to increase durability while aligning to future fashion trends.